Paper Saving Memory Books

Friends, the end is near.  We are on letter F of our ABC Countdown tomorrow.  Letter F....where has all the time gone?  Since the end of the year is quickly approaching, I decided to freshen up my end of the year memory books.

I always love doing memory books with my class, but the one I usually used required way too much paper.  There is a lot less paper to go around these days at my little school.  I might even have to take in a ream or two of paper from home to get through the year!So, I decided to go green this year and make little memory books, so I could get two pages for each book on a page.  I love using little books in my classroom for math and vocabulary, so I know my kiddos will love these. I teach at a Title One school, so a lot of my kiddos aren't able to purchase yearbooks, and I love being able to send home a little keepsake of memories with them.   Of course, they are the most excited about the autograph pages. :) Especially if I let them use markers. 

Since I have taught second, third, and fourth grades, I have memory books for all three!

If you're interested, all three of these memory books are available at my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  

During My Days in Second Grade

Teachers Pay Teachers

During my Days in Third Grade

Teachers Pay Teachers

During my Days in Fourth Grade
Teachers Pay Teachers 

Can You Guess Who I Am {freebie}

Just  a few days ago, I was racking my brains trying to figure out just what my kiddos would do on the last day of school.  I read my kiddos Sideways Stories From Wayside School earlier in the year and planned to show the Nickelodeon cartoon movie while I was passing out Student Council awards at the big kids' awards ceremony, but that was about it.  

So I did what I did pre blogging/Pinterest,  I searched my End of the Year files, both paper and electronic, for what I've done with my classes in the pass.  Lucky for me that I did, because I found one of my favorite last day of school/end of the year activities!

 

 Click {here} to download!

I have my kiddos write down five facts about themselves, and then I shuffle the papers around, and I read the kiddos clues aloud, one student at time. Each student has a copy of my class list and the recording sheet and they write down who they think the clues describe.  Once all the clues have been read, then I start with the first page of clues and reread them, and then have the students share who they thought the clues described and reveal which student wrote the clues.  

 

My kiddos always LOVE this.  I have them put up privacy shields and everything when I read the clues and they are such attentive listeners, you could hear a pin drop during this activity! Plus it's always a hoot to see how my students describe themselves and their reactions when they the mystery student is revealed! 

Some years I offer a prize for the student who guesses the most friends correctly, and some years I don't.  Prize or not, my kiddos LOVE this activity, and I hope yours do too.

Don't forget my School's Out for the Summer Sale at my Teacher's Pay Teachers and Teacher's Notebook stores is going on through Saturday!

 Have a great weekend! :)

S'More Day and Division Freebie

Two days left.  I can do this.  I can do this. I can do this.  Tomorrow is step up day, and my kiddos are headed to a third grade classroom for about fifteen minutes.  While I talk to first graders about second grade. I've been warning my kiddos about the importance of first impressions so they get their acts together and really wow the third grade teacher they visit, all while keeping their current teacher happy at the same time. Win, win. 

Today was s'more day.  We made s'mores, which surprisingly only a handful of my kids had ever had before,and wrote about what we would do if we had s'more time in second grade. Most of my friends wanted more recess, more field trips, and more fun and field days if they had s'more time in second grade. 

If you want to do a s'more day with your class, I have uploaded the craftivity templates and writing paper for grades 1-5 to my stores.

 Teachers Pay Teachers

Teachers Notebook 

Edit: While I loved the big s'mores my kiddos made because they were adorable, I wasn't thrilled with how bulky they were.  S'mores are supposed to be tiny, right?  So I've revised the file to include big and little s'mores!

 I love, love, love the little s'mores!  They are more s'more size and the writing paper is now half of a piece of portrait sized copy paper.  They are so precious!

We still have some academics to squeeze in, we mastered the basics of multiplication, now it's time for division.  We watched a great Brainpop Jr. on equal groups and started working on these pizza themed mini book about division.  

 Today we went over the definitions for division and practiced writing division story problems. 

 Tomorrow we'll be working on solving word problems and hopefully doing a to be determined hands on activity to get them up and moving on our second to last day of school!

 

Pizza, Pizza Division is a freebie at my Teachers Pay Teachers and Teachers Notebook stores! Enjoy!

I'm off to drink some coffee, the end of the year chore list continues!

End of the Year Student Gifts {Freebie}

Hi, friends! I'm taking a break from my end of the year "chores", RTI transition forms and report cards, to work on my kiddos' end of the year gifts.  Usually I give my kiddos books, but ordering from Scholastic just totally slipped my mind this year!

I decided to go with a bag of fun for my kiddos because so many of them just don't go outside and play! A lot of my kids live in rental properties with little place to play, so I complied a bag of goodies that they could play with outside with anywhere and that will hopefully give them at least an afternoon of fun, play time! 

 Inside I put a piece of sidewalk chalk, a watercolor paper, a glow stick (my friends went crazy for their glow stick Valentine's), a packet of Hawaiian Punch, a mini container of bubbles, and an animal squirt gun.  

 The watercolor activities come from Michaels, my kiddos have loved picking them out of the Treasure box this year.  They come 12 to a pack and are only $1.  I included a q-tip for them to use with their painting. 

 I also picked up this roll of goodness at Michaels today! It was on clearance for only $2.99 and I figured it might help with their gap times/with my fast flying finishers these last three days of school since copy paper is in short supply.  

 If you would like a copy of the label I used for my students, I have uploaded it to Google Docs.  Just click {here} or on the picture below to download.  

 I am linking this post up with Courtney's  End of the Year Gift linky party. Click on the link or the picture below to check out everyone's fabulous ideas!

Enjoy the rest of your Sundays, friends! :) If you download my gift tags, I'd love hear how you plan to use it! I'm always collecting ideas in my brain for next year! :)

End of the Year Memory Books

Summer is so close, that I can taste it.  However, a lot of end of the year chores stand in the way between me and some sweet summertime relaxation. I'm hoping to tackle a lot of it this weekend, so I can enjoy my last few days in second grade, and then begin packing up my classroom so I can move to my fourth grade classroom.  I woke up early today, for a weekend, with inspiration for my kiddos' end of the year memory books.  

I always love doing memory books, but the one I usually used required way too much paper.  our district closed a school last summer and moved the teachers to other schools, and cut our supply budget.  Both of those things together mean there is a lot less paper to go around these days.  I might even have to take in a ream from home to get through the week next week. EEKK! 

Anyways, I decided to go green this year and make little memory books, so I could get two pages for each book on a page.  I love using little books in my classroom for math and vocabulary, so I know my kiddos will love these. I teach at a Title One school, so a lot of my kiddos aren't able to purchase yearbooks, and I love being able to send home a little keepsake of memories with them.   Of course, they are the most excited about the autograph pages. :) Especially if I let them use markers. 

I used to teach third grade and my BTF (best teacher friend) is in the same paper predicament, so I slightly modified my second grade booklet to make a third grade one too! 

Original post edit: Since I now teach fourth grade, I have add a fourth grade version! 

 
If you're interested, all three of these memory books are available at my Teachers Pay Teachers store.  

During My Days in Second Grade

Teachers Pay Teachers

During my Days in Third Grade

Teachers Pay Teachers

During my Days in Fourth Grade
Teachers Pay Teachers 

 

Enjoy the rest of your Saturday! :)